


Paper Wolf

by Planty



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mahealahey Trope Challenge, coffee shop AU, human!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-25
Updated: 2013-05-25
Packaged: 2017-11-26 21:03:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/654394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Planty/pseuds/Planty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As it eventually transpired, Isaac hates coffee, Danny loves scones and origami is a legitimate seduction technique.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> References to child abuse, alcohol abuse, homophobia and canonical character death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of canonical character death, past child abuse, homophobia and assault.
> 
> Part of the[ Mahealahey Trope Challenge](http://plantinaboot.tumblr.com/post/40930938643/a-quick-psa-plea)

Coffee. Cream. Sugar. Sickly sweet syrups. Isaac will happily attest that he could live a long and prosperous life if he never sees any of these things ever again. Being left alone to close up was one thing, but being left alone to scrub at the various stains left by clumsy patrons was another.

 “Is it too late to order?”

Isaac glanced up from the foam stain he was attacking to see Stiles grinning brightly, dripping with rain.

“I’m meant to be closing up.”

“Aw come on man. You always let Scott hang around.”

Isaac squirmed, “yeah, but Scott’s away and my manager will yell at me.”

“And I’ll yell at him if he yells at you,” Stiles planted himself firmly in a seat. “My usual, please.”

Isaac considered refusing for about 2.5 seconds and obligingly served up the fussy, sugar extravaganza delight which was ‘Stiles’ usual’.

“So how was your day?” Stiles asked, sipping at the froth of his drink.

“Busy, I guess.”

“Ugh, same. We have this giant deal going on and Mr Hale is total  _pyscho,_ I swear. He watches me work and breathes down my neck all the damn time. Oh, and we got this new tech guy last week. First thing he does?  Send a round robin email asking people to stop using company laptops to look at porn, since the viruses attached was making his job difficult. No joke. He said if the problem continued, he was going to make a list of all the people who did it, along with the titles of the porn videos they were watching and then post it to the noticeboard.”

Isaac grinned and swiped at the machines, “that’s kinda cruelly brilliant.”

“Yeah, the guy’s really pretty nice though. He’s funny when he’s not giving me disapproving looks for playing Words with Friends on company time.”

In all honesty, Isaac didn’t mind the little talks he had with Stiles. They got on well enough and since Scott was still travelling around the world with Allison, they were both admittedly lonely. An hour after Isaac was supposed to shut up shop, he was still sat in a booth, sipping his way through a hot chocolate.

“So then Lydia kind of lost her shit, but in that scary, controlled way she loses her shit, y’know? The way that means she’s about to decimate someone using only words, brains and beauty.”

The bells above the door tinkled, and a sodden man stood in the doorway. Isaac wasn’t the kind of person who waxed lyrical over anyone, but the guy’s damp shirt clung pleasantly close to a  _very_ well-toned set of abs and Isaac indulged a pleasant bit of mindless ogling until the man spoke.

“Are you still open?”

“Danny!” Stiles perked up and swivelled in in his seat at the voice, “Isaac, this is the porn guy.”

Danny swept a stray trickle of rain from his forehead, “is that my official job title? I admit, it’s got a hell of a ring to it.”

Stiles ignored this, “Danny, Isaac, Isaac, Danny,” he flicked his fingers between the two, “Danny is the passive aggressive IT guy I was talking about.”

“I’m not Passive-Aggressive!  I’m just tired of having to trawl around the office, erasing virus after virus because your co-workers can’t wait to go home to watch a ‘Horny Blonde get pummelled by rodeo champ’.”

Stiles rolled his eyes, “Danny, this is Isaac. He’s … the coffee guy.”

“’The coffee guy’? You know me so well,” Isaac said sweetly. Danny laughed, a sharp shock of amusement which made dimples crease in his cheeks. Stiles huffed.

“Will you two stop with the sarcasm? It makes conversation really difficult.”

Danny smirked and adjusted the damp laptop bag slung over his shoulder, “hypocrisy, thy name is Stiles.”

Stiles poked his tongue out and glanced at his watch, “right, I gotta go,” he saluted the two, “see you tomorrow.”

Isaac waved back and Danny watched him leave, chewing on his lip, “is it still okay to get a coffee?”

Isaac watched him, still damp from the pouring rain, looking thoroughly freezing and yet, gorgeous in every sense of the word. Isaac flipped the sign to ‘Closed’ and nodded.

“If you don’t mind me tidying up while you drink.”

* * *

“ – And so I get to this guy’s office and I ask what the problem is. He just goes really quiet and eventually mutters ‘my computer froze, and I’ve tried everything’ … the weird thing is, he’s got his jacket over the screen. I ask him to take it off, and … well, it turned out the computer froze halfway through what was evidently a pretty intense porn session. I mean, the screen was completely stuck on this redhead sucking off two guys at once.”

Isaac felt his jaw drop, “what did you do?”

“Heroically held back to urge to laugh my ass off and fixed the problem.”

* * *

The next day, just as Isaac was closing (by himself, yet again) the door rang. He turned away from his tidying of the sugar packets to inform the customer that he was just about to flip the sign when he came face-to-face with Danny. The rainstorm from the day before hadn’t quelled, and Danny was again deliciously sodden and dishevelled – seriously, the guy made the ‘windswept’ look unfairly sexy.

“Is it too late to get a coffee?” he asked, peeling a damp scarf away.

Isaac made a weird, half-whimper, half-word. Danny laughed and tilted his head to the side.

“Uh – sorry?”

“Yeah, sure, coffee – yeah. What do you want?”

“Just a white decaf.”

“Coming right up,” Isaac started prepping the cup, and it wasn’t until he pushed over the steaming mug did he realise that he hadn’t asked whether the order was to take-away, “uh,” he said sheepishly, “did you want it as a takeout, or - ?”

Danny took a sip, grinning, “I’m pretty good here, actually.”

“Because I actually have to close up now.”

“Oh,” Danny frowned down at his drink. “Guess I will have this to take - ”

_Stupid. Stupid. Stupid._

“No!” Isaac nearly squeaked. “I mean, I’m going to be cleaning and stuff.”

“Uh, okay,” Danny smiled and those dimples – god, those dimples – made a triumphant reappearance, “so I get to stay?”

What Isaac had meant to say was ‘if you want to’, but what came out instead was a worryingly high-pitched –

“I’d like you to.”

The mantra of  _stupid, stupid, stupid_ pounded in his skill again. Isaac clenched his jaw and yet Danny smiled, wide and honest.

“Guess I’m staying then.”  

* * *

It became a pattern. Isaac waited until the door jangled with Danny’s arrival and would start his cleaning duties then. It gave them a good half hour, sometimes more, to talk about everything and anything – Lacrosse, work, hobbies, tv, favourite foods, movies, childhood (Isaac stayed warily silent during this topic, only speaking to prompt Danny for more information about his decidedly happier past)

Danny was funny, Isaac decided. He had this serene, easy going quality which made talking to him less of a muddled, stuttered stress and more of a constant stream of jokes and anecdotes. Danny was charming. Danny was sweet. Danny was an overly-generous tipper, and -

Yep, Danny was all of those things and Isaac was totally, 100%  _screwed._

* * *

 “What’re you doing?”

Danny looked up from the stack of napkins he was fussing over and grinned, “origami.”

“Uhh … ”

Danny made one last fold and shrugged, “when I was 13, I had mono. Unfortunately, I was still grounded from using computers after the incident I told you about.”

Isaac remembered. As it happened, Danny was a kind of computer genius/potential supervillian.

“And my mom didn’t take pity on the fact I was holed up in my room for days on end, so I found this ‘Beginners Origami’ book and learnt, since there was nothing better to do – I don’t know, even after I was well again, I just kept practicing.”

The flowers Danny had created were shoved aside as those hands – those fucking  _hands –_ paid sweet attention to another napkin, creasing and tucking until a small, perfectly formed crane came into tissued existence.

“That’s amazing,” Isaac said, plucking one of the lilies up with awe. “These are beautiful.”

When Isaac looked back to Danny, he saw the man staring with a strange look. Almost of wonder.

“You really think so?”

“Yeah.”

Danny stared for quite some time. He then smiled coyly and asked with an obviously feigned casualness, “what’s your favourite animal, Isaac?”

“Wolf, I guess.”

He’d always loved the pack aspect of wolves. The beauty of creatures and the way they cared for their own. For a while, he wished to be one. To run into the woods, to live by the moon and to be one of his own.

“Right,” Danny thought this over for a while. “Wolf.”

* * *

The next day nearly brought a mild case of heartbreak for Isaac.

“My sisters like to meddle too much. I’ve been set up on  _eight_ blind dates this month.”

Isaac dropped the plate he was holding. Sweeping it with what he hoped was a casual air, he nodded, “so, uh, how’d they go? Any – any keepers?”

“Don’t know. I cancelled them all.”

“Oh,” Isaac tried not to sound too pleased. “Do you want another scone?”

* * *

During the day, the coffee shop was packed. In the morning, Argent & Argent’s employees would flood in, ordering espressos, their eyes ringed with grey. Hale Incorporated’s many workers tended to trudge through all hours of the day, and a crush of High school students would arrive at about four. 

Isaac mindlessly worked through the orders – most days, he didn’t come until late afternoon, but a few cursed times he slogged throughout the whole day.  _All for the money,_ he told himself, dodging past a gaggle of teenagers who for reasons unbeknownst, were snapping pictures of their drinks.

But then the day would unwind, people would disappear and Isaac would too eagerly offer to shut down shop and wait.

He waited on the Monday. Danny usually turned up late Mondays, but he was always in a strangely good mood and Isaac had grown accustomed to the particularly bright smile he’d be greeted with. When Danny eventually jangled into the shop, he was cradling something in his hands.

“Something special?” Isaac asked, already prepping the usual order.

“Very,” Danny unfurled his cupped palms to reveal a paper wolf with its head risen to an invisible moon, howling a silent howl. “Just a little present for putting up with me.”

* * *

 

“Hey, Stiles, can you give this to Danny? He left it in here last night,” Isaac shifted the USB cable across the counter and Stiles raised an eyebrow.

“Last night? He was here?”

Isaac rang up Stiles’ order of several, overly fussy coffees. Lunchtime usually meant Stiles would be trotting in with an order list, but this one was kind of huge. “yeah, dropped it on his way out.”

“Huh.”

Damn till, always fucking glitched during the busy hours, “what’s ‘huh’ about it?” Isaac asked, distracted by the fast filling shop and the resolutely malfunctioning equipment.

“Nothing, just,” Stiles smiled in an infuriatingly knowing manner. “Danny doesn’t work Mondays.”

* * *

Isaac watched the crowds sweep past the shop and chewed his lip. Danny hadn’t turned up – well, obviously it would be a bit much to expect the guy nearly every day. They’d since established that Isaac didn’t work late Wednesdays and couldn’t shut up shop, but usually, Danny would appear, smiling brightly and perfectly punctual, fifteen minutes after closing time.

But being late – or not turning up at all – was perfectly normal. Danny probably thought Isaac was simply the ‘nice coffee guy’, not the ‘guy who is hopelessly in love’.

Isaac rested his head on the counter, breathing in the mingled musk of wood and coffee beans. What had started out as an innocent(ish) crush had morphed into a heart-squeezing nightmare of … love.

And it kind of killed Isaac.

“You okay?”

Isaac jerked his head upwards to see Danny frowning with concern.

“Yeah,” Isaac breathed.

“Sure? You look like crap,” his eyes widened, “not in a bad way! You don’t look all – uh, just, um – tired?”

“Do you want your usual order?” Isaac asked bluntly.

Danny smiled and nodded, “only if you don’t have to close up anytime soon.”

_Only 45 minutes ago, no big deal_

“It’s fine, honestly.”

* * *

Weeks passed. The wolf sat proudly on Isaac’s bedside table, its head lifted in greeting every morning and howling to the moon at night. Danny had given a few other origami creatures to Isaac – foxes, birds, horses, butterflies – all of which were displayed around the apartment. Isaac hoped Scott would appreciate the minor redecoration when he got back from his trip.

* * *

The lunchtime rush kept Isaac on his toes. He totted up several orders, calling out names and dishing out extras with dizzily practiced speed. Stiles waited patiently for his drinks as Isaac shoved over a round of whipped creamed layered mochas to a harassed looking woman.

“We’re out of lemon muffins, d’you want walnut instead?”

“I guess,” Stiles shredded a napkin idly. “Danny’s swamped by the way. Something went majorly wrong with the entire network and he looks like he’s about to have a tech related breakdown any minute, so he’ll probably give your little post-closing meet-up-to-flirt thing a miss.”

Isaac twisted the paper bag with a flourish, “sorry?” he asked innocently. Stiles smirked.

“Don’t act all coy. Danny lives halfway across town, yet he always comes to see you on Mondays –  _just_ you. Whenever I see you talking, you’re staring at each other like lovesick puppies.”

“According to Danny, you and Mr Hale aren’t much better.”

“Derek glares at me from dark corners, plies me with extra work and yells at me daily. We are  _not_ lovesick puppies. We don’t even like each other.”

“Oh,” Isaac bit his lip thoughtfully. “Then why do you call your boss, who you ‘don’t even like’, by his first name?”

Stiles scowled, flushing red, “shut up and man up and ask Danny out. Don’t give me crap like ‘does he like me?’ and ‘is he gay?’ because the answers are yes and yes.”

Isaac twisted his foot, worrying the thin scrub of spilt sugar under his shoe, “I - ” he shook his head and prepared a different order. And order he could probably do with his eyes closed. “Can you me a favour?”

“I guess.”

“Take this to Danny. No charge.”  

Stiles sniggered in a maddeningly smug manner and took the order, “will do, buddy.”

Stiles paid up for his own coffees and swept from the shop, leaving Isaac to juggle serving customers and waging his own internal war. Okay. He’d do it. He’d do it. He do it. He’d ask Danny out, and if Danny rejected him and never wanted to see him again then … that’s life. Right?

Right.

* * *

 Working the subject of a date into the conversation proved to be tricky.

“I was woken up at one this morning by my ringing phone. When I answered it, all I could here was a screech of  _‘I’m engaged! I’m engaged!’”_ He pursed his lips, “She always forgets the time difference between here and Hawaii. I mean, she’s my big sister and I love her and everything, but out of the three of them, she just - ” Danny gesticulated desperately, “Don’t know if you understand. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

Isaac clenched his teeth, “one brother.” He said awkwardly.

“Oh cool, d’you see him often? My sisters are harpies, descending on me when I least expect it.”

Isaac laughed nervously, “no – no, Camden was killed in combat five years ago.”

“Oh,” Danny’s gaze lifted to a soft blur of concern, “Jesus, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. You didn’t know.”

“Yeah, but,” he shook his head. “Must have been hard on you and your family.”

“My dad took it pretty hard,” Isaac tapped his temple, “grief changes people, y’know? I think he was glad to go.”

“What do you - ”

Isaac didn’t particularly want Danny’s pity. He had enough of that from strangers, from teachers, from random people at school after Camden died. When his dad followed suit in a drink driving accident, Isaac felt smothered by the sheer amount of concerned looks being thrown to him by social worker after social worker.

“My dad’s dead too,” Isaac measured out the cream with far too much care, “and it’s probably for the best. He changed after … everything, so don’t say you’re sorry to hear he’s dead, because  _I’m_  not and he wouldn’t be – so why should you be?” The words felt bitterly honest on his tongue, and Isaac daren’t look up to see Danny’s reaction.

“Right,” Danny eventually muttered under his breath.

“Yeah, so,” Isaac swallowed, the shop suddenly too hot, too small for the both of them. “There’s your coffee.”

“Thanks.”

They drank in silence after that.

* * *

Isaac was admittedly surprised when Danny came in the next day. He served up the usual order, no questions and set about cleaning up. The subject of his father pushed to the back of his mind, the subject of a date even further back.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Danny absently circled the ring of his mug, “but your dad … he can’t have been that good of a father.”

Isaac laughed. Legitimately snorted into his own hot chocolate at the understatement of the century.

“But I just wanted to say that it doesn’t change anything.”

_Doesn’t change what?_

“I mean, you can talk about it if you want, because obviously there are … issues there. But you don’t have to feel obliged,” Danny winced, “I just wanted to say you can talk to me about anything. I’m always happy to listen … Jesus, this sounds really patronising, but - ”

“Danny,” Isaac held up a hand to silence him. “I get it. Thank you.”

Danny did a strange, half-smile twitch, “anything for you Isaac, you know that.”

* * *

After that, things seemed more comfortable. Closer. Isaac let his guard down, and let the flirtatious words slip past his lips with less embarrassment, he didn’t mention dates, but it was okay – he loved just talking to Danny. Sometimes about trivial things, sometimes less so. Isaac stuttered out a little bit about what happened with his dad, a few memories of being a kid. A few, private anecdotes about his mom. Under some prompting, Danny revealed a few choice secrets too.

“When I was 17, I was attacked outside a gay club. I’m pretty sure the guy was prepared to kill me, he was clearly tweaked out of his mind – I was lucky that the bouncer saw and managed to intervene. He took me to hospital but I discharged myself, ‘cause he kept trying to call my parents.”

A lurch of anger and distress ran through Isaac at the thought of anyone even  _trying_ to hurt Danny, “why’d you not want them to know?”

Danny shrugged, “take your pick. I was underage and kind of ashamed – I mean,” he splayed out his hands, “look at me. I’m a pretty big guy. I should have been able to handle it and – well, I felt like I deserved it. I went into the club, got as drunk as possible and just grabbed the first guy who would take me home. I didn’t know it would end like that.” He squirmed. “I’m not great at getting over break ups. That’s pretty much how I managed.”

Isaac shook his head, “that sucks, man. You shouldn’t have blamed yourself. Blame the guy who tried to kill you, really.”

Danny went quiet, watching Isaac with a strange, fond look. The look had been coming about more frequently, and it made something squirm pleasantly in Isaac’s stomach.

“You’re a great guy.”

Isaac’s heart pounded, “thanks?” he stumbled out intelligently.

Danny stirred his coffee with a vague air of indecision, as if he would rather be somewhere else, “you’re a really nice guy,” he said. “And I’m sorry if I weirded you out … Usually I don’t apologise for getting the whole ‘is he gay?’ thing wrong – since I’m pretty good at guessing if someone’s in to me.”

Isaac blinked, “what?”

“I gave you my number,” Danny said slowly, “sorry if it made you feel awkward.”

“When?” Isaac scrubbed the back of his neck. “uh, I didn’t see it.”

“Oh,” Danny laughed wryly, “I wondered if you just – um, you should’ve opened the paper wolf I gave you, or not thrown it away or - ”

Isaac thought back to when he’d received that delicate little wolf. Quite some time ago, almost three months. He bristled in indignation.

“I didn’t throw it away! I kept it. Do you know how hard it is to transport a tiny paper wolf on the subway?”

Danny laughed and it sounded like a triumph, “well, I guess there was a crossed wire.”

“Guess so.”

“C’mere,” Danny gently took Isaac’s hand in his own and fumbled in his pocket for a pen. It would have probably been easier to take out his phone and exchange numbers that way, but the sheer intimacy of Danny holding his hand, the soft tickle of the pen and the sweet smile Danny gave him after the number had been written sent a small thrum of happiness shivering through Isaac.

“So,” Danny said, still gripping his wrist. “Call me this time.”

* * *

Walking home was an almost treacherous task. Isaac was wary of even the slightest drop of rain smudging the number scrawled on his wrist. He saved the number to his phone, yet didn’t dare swipe away the digits until he’d double, triple, quadruple checked it was totally correct.

He was probably a little too desperate, but –  _Danny._ Which was in itself, an explanation.

‘ _I’m usually good at guessing if someone’s into me’_ so Danny knew Isaac was ‘into him’. He’d given Isaac his number. He’d said to call him. Stiles had said Danny was into him. It was basically green lighting every sordid fantasy Isaac had since Danny had crept wetly into the coffee hut. Isaac typed out a message and sent it before he balked.

_And now you have mine :)_

It was casual enough and the reply came through almost immediately, yet Isaac’s heart still hammered like a teenager’s.

* * *

 

Having Danny’s number turned out to be some form of mild torture. The temptation to text him every moment of the day was overshadowed by the realisation that doing so would make him seem like the world’s biggest creeper.

However, Danny was in the habit of texting Isaac with little anecdotes from the office and it was only polite to reply.

**From: Danny**

_Standing in Hale’s office and attempting to fix a building-wide IT issue whilst Stiles and Mr Hale awkwardly Hate-flirt with each other. Bad day_

Isaac grinned,

**To: Danny**

_The special today is Blueberry scones. I’ve put some aside for you._

His phone bleeped seconds later,

**From: Danny**

_Day is now better, thank you._

* * *

 Getting hold of Scott had proved problematic. He was so often in an area with little signal or in a whacked out time zone that they hadn’t talked much beyond a few grainy skype calls.

But Isaac could use a little pep talk.

“Hey buddy!” Scott’s voice was distorted by a mix of static and sea waves, “how’s it going?”

“ … pretty good. How’s wherever you are?”

Scott giggled, “we’re in Australia now! I held a koala and then we had kangaroo burgers, which were weirdly nice – think I’ll be able to get those in New York? Anyway, we’ve decided to a take a little time to relax on the beach before we head home,” there was a voice in the background. “Allison says hi.”

“Hi Allison – so, coming home. When will that be?”

Scott’s tone changed suddenly, he sounded vague and off, “oh, soon.”

“Right. I just needed some advice.”

“On what?”

“This guy.”

Scott muttered something under his breath, “I’m not great with relationship advice. Stiles keeps bugging me about that Derek guy at his work – I mean, I’ll help you, you’re a great person. Whoever this guy is would be totally lucky to have you. You make awesome steak and you don’t complain when I have Allison around. Not you that you could complain, c’mon, she’s great company isn’t she? On the flight here, we were playing this game where you have to name four people - ”

Isaac sighed and buried his head into the pillow. He loved Scott, really, but whenever Allison came into the equation, conversation could be considered a one way street.

“ – and  _then_  you cross the names off and list the jobs and, uh. Wait. I’m getting side tracked, aren’t I?”

It was couples like Allison and Scott which made Isaac believe in true love. Maybe even soul mates.

“Yeah, a little bit. It doesn’t matter – have fun.”

“Isaac, wait,” Scott cleared his throat. “Listen, I know you. If you like a guy, then you should ask him out. Don’t let yourself get caught up in not feeling good enough, ‘cause you really are, okay man? If anything, he’s not good enough for  _you.”_

“I doubt that,” Isaac muttered. Scott carried on regardless.

“Ask him to dinner, if he says yes, take him somewhere nice like Louie’s and after that uh … I dunno. Use protection, I guess.”

Something stuck in Isaac’s throat, he choked out a laugh, “thanks man.”

“No problem. Gotta go, Allison wants to show me how to do a cartwheel.”

“Bye,” Isaac said, absently hanging up. He could do it. He could ask Danny this time. He  _would._

* * *

“All I know is that Stiles was told to go to Hale’s office for a ‘stock meeting’ and half an hour later, when I went to check up on the network issue, Stiles and Hale were making out on the desk,” Danny paused thoughtfully. “Either Stiles really gets off on stock percentages, or they have a booty call code.”

“Well Stiles has always been really fond of the Wall Street Journal, that’s all I’m saying.”

Danny chuckled and drained his drink, catching sight of his watch “I should probably go,” he said unenthusiastically.

“Yeah,” Isaac glanced to the clock on the wall. They’d since started sitting in low light, as their little shut-ins were going on for quite some time, and Isaac’s manager was starting to get suspicious about the electricity usage past working hours.

Danny shimmied his coat back on, “so, see you tomorrow?”

“I can’t close up tomorrow.”

“Uh, the day after?”

Isaac swiped the counter down, “I’m not closing up for another two weeks. They shifted our schedules.”  

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Right,” Danny shifted his laptop bag to his shoulder and slid from the chair. “See you … whenever, I guess.”

Isaac twisted the dishtowel in his hands and, as Danny went for the exit, blurted out a slightly shrill,

“Do you wanna get some dinner with me some time?”

Danny froze and glanced over his shoulder, “seriously?” he asked.

“Yeah – it’d be really nice.”

Smiling, Danny nodded, “then yeah. I’d love to. Text me the details, ‘kay?”              

* * *

He was actually going on a date with Danny.

An actual date. To a place which wasn’t the coffee shop, to eat something that wasn’t scones.

**To: Danny**

_Tomorrow night, 7pm at Louie’s?_

**From: Danny**

_Sounds great_

Right. Okay. Clothes. Make the reservation. Thank Scott for being awesome. Try not to panic, it was just a date.

With Danny.

* * *

“Reservation for Lahey?”

“Ah, yes, table for two. Right this way.”

Danny had been perfectly punctual, presenting Isaac with a freaking  _origami rose._ Isaac very nearly jumped him then and there, but they’d instead stepped into the plush restaurant and been led to a softly lit table in the corner. They were sat at an angle so Isaac, if he so chose, could innocently brush his leg against Danny’s.

“Nice place,” Danny commented, flicking open a menu. “Been here before?”

“Once for Scott and Allison’s anniversary dinner, it was when they told us they were going for that round the world trip. Stiles ended up drinking half the bar.”

Danny chuckled, “he’s such a strange guy. Really nice, but hard to follow sometimes. Goes a mile a minute.”

“Yeah, he’s surprising.” Isaac shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe he’s sleeping with the boss  _or_ that they’ve screwed in the office. So clichéd.”

Danny cocked his head, “ _we’re_  kind of a cliché though.”

“Are we?”

“Mm, well,” Danny moved his arm so the bread basket could be set down. “Meeting in a coffee shop, it’s just one of those things.”

Isaac chewed his lip, “guess it is.”

“Isaac?”

Isaac glanced up to see Danny staring at him with that strange, fond look. Isaac blinked, watched Danny bite his lip and then extend a hand around the nape of Isaac’s neck.

_God._

It was hard to care they were in a public place, that they were surrounded by other couples and the waiter was so obviously loitering because  _Danny_ was kissing him and it was so, so good.

“Right,” Isaac huffed breathlessly as they broke apart. “So.”

“So.”

“I was going to ask if this was a date. Guess I have my answer.”

Danny let his hand slide from Isaac’s neck to the table, grinning sheepishly, “I’ve wanted to ask you out for a while.” he admitted. 

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. But I didn’t want to make things weird between us. I like talking to you, it’s pretty much the best part of my day. And when you sent up those scones and coffee because Stiles told you I was having a rough time it drove me  _crazy,_ because I couldn’t figure out how you felt about me.”

Isaac deadpanned, “I keep the shop open an hour longer just so I can sit and have a drink with you. I don’t even like coffee! You pretty much melted my brain with those origami displays of affection.”

Danny raised his glass, “shall we just agree that we’ve been too proud and moronic to take a chance and ask each other out - which was a mistake, and that this shall hereafter be known as our ‘first date’?”

Isaac raised his own, “our first date.”

* * *

In retrospect, choosing such a classy restaurant was probably a mistake. Not because the two felt out of place, or the food was too expensive or the waiters were stuck up. No. It was simply too hard to hold in the laughter. 

” - and it ended up with me wearing nothing but that stupid plastic lei around my neck, Jackson trying to convince the police officer he wasn’t drunk - all the while wearing a hula skirt, clutching a bottle of Jack and addressing the officer as ‘Mr Police’ - and Matt trying to swim in a rock pool, still dressed in the wetsuit.”

Isaac ducked his head, desperately trying to stop the snorts that threatened to burst out from Danny’s story. He wiped a tear, “ _Jesus -_ what did your friend say?”

“She refused to acknowledge she knew any of us.”

* * *

“After Lilo and Stitch came out, people kept asking weirdly intrusive questions about my ‘Ohana’,” Danny rolled his eyes and scanned the dessert menu. “That movie has a lot to answer for.”

“That movie raised a lot of my hopes - please tell me that Hawaii really is rich in adorable aliens?”

Danny chuckled, “yeah, you can barely move for the sheer amount of Extraterrestrials with zany personalities - ”

Isaac giggled.

“ - but you should visit the islands someday. I have family scattered about and they’ll put you up. My sisters are intent on meeting you, so you’ll probably be hounded down if you stray out there anyway.”

Isaac sipped his drink, not commenting on the fact that Danny had talked to his family about him, but finding it hard to supress the grin that came from the news.

* * *

The bill had proved the only disagreement of the night.

“No, don’t be ridiculous.”

“It’s not ridiculous, it’s manners.”

“Then let me have ‘manners’.”

“Ha, no.”

“Come  _on,_ I asked you out!”

“So? Consider me paying as my thank you.”

“No! Put your wallet - ”

“Why don’t you just go halves?”

Danny and Isaac turned to the waiter, who’d been watching the argument with clear amusement.

“Thanks,” Danny muttered turning back to Isaac. “Sound okay?”

“Fine. But the next date’s my treat.”

“Fine,” Danny said happily. There was an unsaid agreement that this wouldn’t be the only date, though Isaac had been sure of that from the start. “Come on, let’s pay up and get out of here.”

“My apartment’s just up the street.”

“I know,” Danny shot him a look. “I’ll walk you home.”

He really did have impeccable manners. The walked up the street, idly discussing plans for the next date, because as Danny said ‘you can never really be too prepared’. They reached Isaac’s block and Danny wound a hand around Isaac’s waist, pulling him in for a kiss.

It was probably too soon. There were guidelines about this, right? Third date crap.

But as Danny kissed Isaac, keen, unabashed and clearly wanting more, Isaac couldn’t bring himself to give a damn, “um.” He indicated with a short jerk of his head. “Want to come up?”

* * *

 Danny was an incredible kisser.

No, scratch that. Danny was an incredible lip nibbling, neck kissing, hair tugging –

“ _Fuck_.”

“Mm,” Danny slid a hand up Isaac’s leg. “Pretty much.”

Isaac nearly choked on the sudden wash of arousal. Danny nipped at his lip and tugged at Isaac’s shirt.

“This needs to come off,” he said against Isaac’s mouth. Isaac decided to forgo any sense of dignity and whimpered, desperate and low. The couch probably wasn’t the most ideal of places, but it was the nearest thing once they’d fallen through the front door and since Danny had embarked on his mission to take Isaac apart kiss by kiss as soon as they reached the threshold, it would suffice.

But still, Isaac would like some semblance of ‘the upper hand’.

“What’re you - ”

Isaac pulled himself away from Danny, stealing a kiss or two – okay,  _three_ \- before settling himself on the floor. He bared his teeth in grin and Danny visibly swallowed.

“What does it look like?”

He swiftly shucked off Danny’s pants, settling them below his hips and crawled to rest his elbows either side of Danny’s legs. Even his thighs had line of muscles running up them, and Isaac decided to cave into temptation and lick a long, rough streak up them. 

“God,” Danny groaned, looking deliciously wrecked. Isaac nipped at the skin, earning him a jolt and surprised moan –

And then the front door opened.

“ _Surprise!”_

Scott stood, tanned and grinning in the doorway. When he clocked Danny and Isaac’s position as they scrambled for cover, his face dropped.

“Uh – crap. I – um, came home early and Allison’s gone to say hi to Lydia,” he slapped a hand over his eyes. “I wanted to surprise you,” Scott said meekly, letting his hands drop.

“Well this is pretty surprising,” Isaac managed to mutter, shoving his shirt back on. Scott giggled nervously and glanced to Danny, shuffling on the spot.

“Uh, hi Isaac’s … Friend.”

“Hi,” Danny said pleasantly, managing to slip his pants back up with a surprising amount of dignity. “I’m Danny, you must be Scott.”

Scott nodded awkwardly.

“So, um,” Danny cupped a hand around Isaac’s cheek, tracing his jaw with his thumb. “I should go.”

“You don’t have to leave on my behalf,” Scott dumped his suitcase down. “I need to go see Stiles and stuff, you two can always … finish up here.”

Isaac could practically hear the repressed giggle in Scott’s tone. Danny held up a hand,

“It’s fine, you two probably want to catch up,” he retrieved his coat and turned to Isaac.

“Dinner this weekend? I’ll call you.”

Isaac nodded, leaning for what was meant to be a brief kiss, but kind of turned into a mildly diluted version of that evening’s previous activities. They eventually pulled apart, and Danny was grinning brightly.

“So. See you.”

“See you,” Isaac echoed.

“Nice meeting you, Scott.”

Scott bobbed his head awkwardly and muttered a polite ‘you too’, he waited until the door clicked shut and raised an eyebrow conspiratorially.

“Followed my advice, huh?”

“Yeah,” Isaac laughed giddily. “I did.”


	2. Epilogue

“Sun lotion?”

“Check.”

“Toothpaste?”

“Check.”

“Shower gel?”

“Check. Won’t they have this stuff at your family’s house?”

Danny swatted Isaac with the checklist and crammed another tshirt into his suitcase, “weddings are terrifying when it comes to my family. They go through bath products like something else. It’s like if they don’t all look perfect for photos, then the day’s a bust.”

“Mhmm,” Isaac pressed a quick kiss to Danny’s cheek. “you always look perfect though.”

“Charmer.”

“I have to be charming. You had origami to lure me in, I had  _nothing.”_

“Apart from your looks, personality and irresistible everything.”

Even after months of being with Danny, any and all compliments still made Isaac blush. Ignoring the hot pink tinges on his cheeks, Isaac flipped to the last item of their list, “so how are we going to get the suits across?”

“Doesn’t really matter, Mom will be wielding a steamer any crease she sees. Just put it in the case.”

“Right,” Isaac squashed the suit bags in and clicked the case shut, “that’s everything, so … Early night?”

Danny returned Isaac’s smirk with one of his own.

“As long as we’re out of the house by 3am. If we miss this flight, Sarah will strangle us with her bare hands. She’s been planning her wedding day since she was  _eight.”_

“Fair enough,” Isaac dragged Danny up by the hand. “And about this flight … ”

“Yeah?”

“Out of curiosity, how do you feel about the mile high club?”

Danny giggled, nuzzling into Isaac’s neck. The contentment and the sheer peace Isaac felt sometimes was hard to explain. It was as if he’d never stop being grateful for that one, rainy evening where this wonderful man walked in and sweetened his life.

**Author's Note:**

> This work is part of the Mahealahey Trope Challenge. Click on the above link to help fill the Mahealahey tag with lovely fics and fanarts of a grievously underated ship - or yell at me about Danny/Isaac feelings @ [my tumblr](http://plantolio.tumblr.com/)  
> 


End file.
